Leicester close to agreeing £25m deal for right-back Ricardo Pereira

Leicester City are close to agreeing a deal to sign right-back Ricardo Pereira from Porto for a fee of around £25 million, according to sources in Portugal.

Pereira has a buy-out clause of £33 million but Leicester are believed to have secured the 24-year-old Portugal international for less with add-ons supplementing the fee. Leicester have been looking at a number of players to strengthen that position.

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With the World Cup looming Pereira, who has interested other Premier League clubs, wanted his future agreed before he met up for his country’s training camp. With the tournament and the transfer window closing earlier in August, there is expected to be a flood of activity in the next couple of weeks.

Pereira will challenge Danny Simpson for the right-back place in the Leicester side. Simpson has acknowledged that the club will make a signing by saying recently: “I am pretty much the only right back at the club so they have to bring one in. That sort of challenge either brings out the best in you or it doesn’t. It does for me.”

Pereira has played for Leicester manager Claude Puel before, on loan at French club Nice, and wants to move to Leicester despite being offered a new contract by Porto.